According to statistics, death in a fire results far more frequently from choking or suffocation than from burning. The main reason for this lies in the fact that fire tends to break out at night or while people are asleep, during which time the doors and windows of the fire scene are often shut and therefore keep the heavy smoke from dissipating. Closed doors and windows also hinder evacuation and make it difficult for firefighters to advance fire hoses into a building to put out fire. As a result, firefighters or rescue team members must break the closed doors or windows with axes or other tools to enable water application to the interior of the building or help those trapped in the building to escape.
In order not to lose time in firefighting or rescuing, forced entry by demolition is typically required; hence, the removal of obstacles is practically a standard operation. For example, doors or windows must be destroyed; wood panels or walls, knocked down; or bolts or nails, unfastened. To effectively remove the foregoing and other obstacles, the corresponding tools are called for, which include axes, wrenches, chisels, and so on. A firefighter, therefore, must bring several tools with him so that different demolition operations can be executed to save people from danger without delay.
However, the ways in which the demolition operations are performed give rise to various problems. First of all, a firefighter wishing to carry multiple tools with him must put each tool in a proper place, and because of that, the firefighter's clothes must have the corresponding receiving spaces (e.g., pockets) or elements (e.g., a belt or waist bag). Consequently, not only are costs incurred for purchasing the tools and modifying the clothes, but also the firefighter may be inconvenienced by the tools carried. Second, the total weight of the tools can be considerable and will add to the already heavy burden on a firefighter. As firefighters tend to run in order to save time, the extra weight of the tools is very likely to accelerate the consumption of physical energy or even lead to premature fatigue, which will in turn delay the firefighting or rescue operation, if not putting the firefighters themselves in danger. Last but not least, a firefighter carrying several tools with him must choose the right tool for the type of demolition operation on hand (e.g., to destroy a door or window, to knock down a wood panel or wall, or to unfasten a bolt or screw), and yet choosing the right tool can be time-consuming or difficult if the firefighter's vision is compromised by smoke or darkness at the site.
Hence, it is an important issue in the demolition tool industry to improve the existing products so that firefighters and rescue team members can carry fewer tools with them but are still capable of effectively performing various demolition operations and saving people or objects from danger as quickly as possible.